On Thursday 11 June, an exclusive placing among 22 other European universities became a formal reality for Aarhus University – the only Danish university to receive the coveted ECTS label at a ceremony in Brussels. This seal of quality provides students with improved opportunities for standardising their marks and credit transfer and, in particular, opportunities for international exchange.

A unique tool in Aarhus University’s current internationalisation programme is that the students themselves can now compose their degree programmes both in Denmark and abroad. To put it plainly, the inner European education market has become a reality. And this reality applies to the many European students who would like to spend some of their time studying in Aarhus.

Prior to being awarded this seal of quality, Aarhus University had to undergo a lengthy screening process.This first included approval and recommendation from CIRIUS – the Danish national authority responsible for the internationalisation of education and training – and subsequently the EU Commission’s final assessment and approval.

Since 2006, the university has been working on adapting its offers of degree programmes to meet European standards, and the EU approval – and the new study opportunities – officially became a reality on Thursday evening 11 June.

On this occasion, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Nina Smith was presented with the ECTS approval on behalf of the university by EU Commissioner Jan Figel, who was impressed by the quality displayed by Aarhus University in implementing the ECTS system. ECTS is an abbreviation for European Credit Transfer System.

“It wasn’t the ECTS label alone that got Aarhus University to embark on this enormous project. We did it because the ECTS project is a really good platform for quality assuring all our degree offers, which amount to approximately4,000 courses a year,” says Nina Smith, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Aarhus University.

At present, 23 European universities have prepared their offers of degree programmes for the ECTS label, which applies for a period of four years.

Requirements for ECTS label approval are:

That the ECTS system applies to all the more than 100 degree programmes and 4,000 courses at Aarhus University per term. In addition, that all the offers of study programmes are presented and described in both Danish and English on an ongoing basis.Furthermore, that student exchange takes place in compliance with the Bologna Declaration on full recognition of credit transfer from other EU countries. The Bologna Process is a term for the collaboration initiated by the European ministers of education in 1999. The precise aim is to create a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) that enables students to move freely across national borders. Since Thursday evening 11 June, this has been a new reality for students at Aarhus University.

Caption:Pro-Vice-Chancellor Nina Smith, Aarhus University, was presented with visible proof of the ECTS approval by EU Commissioner Jan Figel at a gala dinner in Brussels.

Read more about the EU’s ECTS label

More information:

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Nina Smith +45 2778 2870

Head of Section Steffen Skovfoged +45 6020 2680

Head of Press Affairs Anders Correll +45 2899 2235